Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb Demo Slated at the Googleplex

Google has penciled in a big Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet demonstration at its Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., for Feb. 2. Expect the Motorola Xoom and other tablets.

Google Feb. 2 is taking the unusual step of offering a media preview of its
new Android 3.0 operating system, the next-generation build of its popular
mobile platform.

"Please join us for an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news
and hands-on demos," trumpets the invitation, which Search
Engine Land
has published.

The event is taking place at Google's Mountain View,
Calif., headquarters. While this is the
site for many major Google product launches, it's the first such event for a
new Android OS build.

The company has reason to celebrate the new OS, code-named Honeycomb. Android
tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy Tab currently ship with Android 2.2, which
Google officials have categorically stated is intended for smartphones and not
the larger real estate afforded by tablet touch screens.

Honeycomb has been "redesigned from the ground up" to fit the larger
screens populating tablet computers, Xavier Ducrochet noted in a launch
statement touting the software development kit preview he launched for Honeycomb Jan. 26.

One can argue the current Android 2.3 build, code-named Gingerbread, has also
been redesigned in many ways.

It's the first version of the open-source platform to include near field
communications support, and it sports a gyroscope for improved gaming,
multitasking and a refreshed user interface with a better keyboard. Samsung's
Nexus S smartphone is at present the only device running Gingerbread.

However, Android 3.0 offers users a new holographic user interface that focuses
on multitasking, notifications, widgets and other features to make devices
requiring multitouch gestures easier to use.

The Android 3.0 keyboard has been redesigned to be more tablet-friendly, and a
new system bar located at the bottom of the touch screen displays notifications
and recently used applications.

The revamped Web browser offers tabbed browsing for multiple Web windows, and it
supports 3D graphics with a new rendering engine.

Google's Feb. 2 event would be the third time Android 3.0 has been shown in
action in front of a sizable audience.

Android creator Andy Rubin in December showed off Google Maps 5.0 for Android on a prototype
Motorola Xoom, rendering buildings in 3D as Rubin tilted the tablet.